Grassroots Tours
Tours are a great way for members of your community who cannot travel to El Salvador to get to know your friends in your sistering region and community!
Tour Guidelines:
- Tour visits from El Salvador to US sisters should be scheduled during the fall and spring months. All tour invitations should be made at least six months in advance (notice to SHARE and written invitation in Spanish to community/region), in order to provide sufficient time for visa acquisition and tour preparation. Thank you for helping SHARE to maximize resources and coordination by scheduling your tours around these two windows.
- As agreed upon in SHARE’s strategic plan, tours should include a regional representative (either a CRIPDES regional representative or, in the case of urban parishes, a parish council member.) This addition brings a broader vision of the history and development of El Salvador to our U.S. base, and supports our mission to build long-term, sustainable solutions to poverty, underdevelopment and social injustice through broad-based organizing efforts.
- Tours can help further SHARE’s three guiding principles of citizen participation, leadership development, and women’s empowerment! Touring guests should be: chosen by community/region, first-time travelers with SHARE, and be at least 50% women. Travel applicants should also not have previously been denied a visa.
- When possible, a SHARE staff member will participate in at least one of the tour events. Please contact Elly Jordan in the Washington DC office, elinor@share-elsalvador.org, (202)319-5540 for support in developing tour activities and for coordination around staff accompaniment during the visit.
- Unfortunately, the current reality in the U.S. has made it is increasingly difficult to acquire U.S. visas. This means that while SHARE will continue to employ in full its experience and knowledge regarding preparing our counterparts for obtaining tour visas, U.S. committees should be aware that planning a tour involves the risk of visa denials. In light of this situation, SHARE is taking the following measures regarding tours:
- Two second-round interviews and related prep, in the case of visa denials the first time around, are included in the tour budget.
- Communities and regions will be asked to select alternates at the same time they choose first-choice tour reps.
- Tour reps should have never been denied a U.S. visa, and should have no immediate family members in the U.S. (spouses, siblings, parents, and children are considered immediate family; cousins, aunts, etc. are OK).
- First and second-round visa interviews will be completed with three months anticipation of desired tour dates, to provide sufficient notice to all parties in case changes in tour plans are required.
- In the event of visa denial, second round interviews will be scheduled according to the joint discretion of SHARE and the US sistering community.
- In the event that we are unable to send the total number of guests initially invited, funds to be disbursed following visa issuance for those guests will be reimbursed to the U.S. committee.
- Airline Tickets should be purchased following the issuance of visas.
Budget for Committees Planning a Tour
3 PERSON TOUR APPROXIMATE COST $1,280.00
(Does not include Airfare or expenses while in U.S.)
Breakdown of costs:
1. Preparation Cost per Touree: $280.00 (this covers the visa interview, passport, and purchase of personal items for the trip to the U.S. Multiply this number by the number of tourees you plan to invite.)
2. Preparation Cost per Group $440.00 (This covers the group's expenses in preparing for the trip, such as travel to meetings, materials for presentations in the U.S. and travel to and from the San Salvador airport, this also covers SHARE's $350 tour group coordination fee. This cost only applies once to each group.)
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Delegations